NO SAFE DOSE
There is no safe level of exposure and there is no dose of radiation so low
that the risk of a malignancy is zero--Dr. Karl Z. Morgan, dubbed the father of
Health Physics.1
.there is no safe level of exposure to ionising radiation, and the search for
quanitifying such a safe level is in vain.˙Rosalie Bertell, PhD.2
In 1940, several members of the US Committee on X-Ray and Radium Protection
proposed that the [radiation exposure] standard be lowered by a factor of five
in response to the accumulating evidence that ANY amount of radiation, no matter
how small, can cause genetic damage, injuring future generations. Gioacchino
Failla argued against the lowering of the standards saying that if genetic
damage were to be a consideration for standard-setters, then logically no
radiation exposure should be allowed.3
.the human epidemiological evidence establishes˙by any reasonable standard of
proof˙that there is no safe dose or dose-rate.the safe-dose hypothesis is not
merely implausible˙it is disproven. Dr. J.W. Gofman 4
One thing we should take from this (1991 study of Oak Ridge weapons workers by
Steve Wing, et al.) is that there isn´t any safe level of radiation exposure.
Dr. Carl Shy 5.
The reanalysis (of Hanford worker data) provides no support for the idea
that.there is reduced cancer effectiveness of radiation at low dose levels.
Drs. G.W. Kneale and A. Stewart 6.
There is evidence that single tracks of all types of ionizing radiation can
induce a variety of damage including DNA double-strand breaks which are believed
to be critical lesions in radiation exposure. There is also a body of
experimental evidence that argues against an error-free DNA repair system
operating at low doses of ionizing radiation that might result in a dose
threshold for the induction of gene and chromosomal mutations. MP Little and CR
Muirhead.7
An important feature of alpha irradiation is that, no matter how low the total
dose to the whole body, a substantial dose of radiation (approx. .5 Gy) is
delivered to an individual cell if it is traversed by a single alpha particle.
E Wright 8.
Compiled by Cindy Folkers, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, 1424 16th
Street NW Suite 404 Washington, DC 20036; 202-328-0002;
[email protected]
website:
www.nirs.org
Works Cited:
1.Cancer and low level ionizing radiation The Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists. September 1978.
2...No Immediate Danger? Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth. Women´s Educational
Press, Toronto, Ontario. 1985: 45. isbn 0-88961-092-4
3 Caufield, Catherine. Multiple Exposures: Chronicles of the Radiation Age.
Harper and Row, New York. 1989: 48. isbn 0-06-015900-6.
4.Radiation-Induced Cancer from Low-Dose Exposure: An Independent Analysis.
Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, Inc. 1990:18-16, 18-18. Isbn
0-932682-89-8.
5 Garloch, Karen. Repeated low radiation doses hike leukemia risk, UNC study
finds. The Charlotte Observer. Wednesday, March 20, 1991.
6 .Reanalysis of Hanford Data: 1944-1986 Deaths. American Journal of
Industrial Medicine. 23:371-389 (1993).
7.Curvilinearity in the Dose-Response Curve for Cancer in Japanese Atomic Bomb
Survivors. Environmental Health Perspectives. 105 (6): 1505. (1997)
8.Chromosomal instability in the descendants of unirradiated surviving cells
after alpha particle irradiation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.95: 5730 (1998).
ACE
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